Hot gas path components, such as gas turbine airfoils and the like, generally employ advanced cooling techniques so as to withstand extremely high operating temperatures. These advanced techniques may include the use of film cooling. Film cooled components typically are inspected using manual pin checks and the like. Pin checks generally involve the use of undersized pin gages and/or water flow visualization. Such water flow visualization techniques involve flowing water through the component and having an operator visually verify that the water is flowing from each film hole. These manual approaches, however, are qualitative and subject to operator interpretation.
Infrared inspection techniques have the potential to perform quantitative, objective inspection of the film cooled components in a largely automated fashion. Infrared inspection systems and current airflow check systems, however, typically may have conflicting technical requirements such that separate infrared inspection and airflow check systems may be used. Such separate use may be time consuming and at considerable expense.
Both infrared inspection systems and airflow check systems generally are used after all or most of the film holes in the component in question have been drilled or otherwise machined and completed. As a result, the component may need to be returned to the drill or other device for further machining if, for example, an improperly drilled film hole or the like is detected, Moreover, hole breakthrough detection during drilling often is difficult, particularly with laser drilling into a cooling passage. Multiple inspection, transport, and machining steps thus may be required with the use of known machining equipment and inspection techniques.
There is thus a desire for improved thermal inspection systems, machining systems, and methods of use so as to reduce the number of machining, transport, and inspection steps while improving overall component quality. Such improved systems and methods may provide a quality component while avoiding the time and subjective results found in known manual operations. Likewise, such improved systems and methods may provide a quality component in less time and with less operator involvement for reduced overall cost.